The Family Stand 

Soulful, churchy voices ring out from the darkness. Three young women, one male -- African American, yes; voices meshed in familial harmonies. A small combo of instruments backing the vocals with a certain Southland swing sharpens the thrill of audience discovery in this vast black room. But before you picture the Staples Singers performing "The Weight" with The Band in The Last Waltz, you should know that this scene was live -- not Memorex -- in Charlotte last month when local family band the Barnettes took to the stage at the 4th annual Mid-Atlantic Music Conference.

Sibling bands are not unknown to Charlotte: Concord's Avett Brothers are now on the upswing of critical buzz, and the lamented trajectory of Justincase took that group as far as a record deal with Madonna's Maverick Records. Brothers Herman and Juan Miguel Marin of La Rúa are making regional history with their annual Carlotan Rock festival celebrating homegrown Rock en Español.

For young African American musicians such as the Barnette siblings, the most significant local model would likely be the early-90s success of Jodeci, who rode high along the continuum between New Jack Swing and the "hip-hop smoothed out on an R&B tip" that prevails on today's urban radio.

The Barnettes, purveyors of an unfashionable sincerity and a pop-friendly rock & soul sound, differ in virtually every way from the thugged-out titans of mass appeal who parade daily on BET. And it's that very distinction that makes the Barnettes the band the Queen City needs now. Originally hailing from Columbia, SC, the Barnettes are God-fearing, fresh-scrubbed college grads who support the Troops and (as I saw that October Saturday) can play easily to both the giddy children at ImaginOn's opening and the surprised music-bizzers at the Mid-Atlantic conference.

As young musicians working outside of edgier subcultures such as Dirty South hip-hop or hellbilly rock, the Barnettes -- Elesha Renee', Adrienne, Kristen and Rufus -- are more like black Hansons than former Mouseka-bimbos Britney Spears or Christina Aguilera. Hanson was the most interesting of those late-90s teen revivalists -- and most enduring. The trio not only survived the meteor of "MMMBop," but went on to become an independent group and even collaborated with Grateful Dead/Ratdog poobah Bob Weir. Here's hoping the Barnette family follows the Hanson brothers' relatively graceful example.

The Barnettes are off to a good start, with eldest sibling Elesha Renee' piloting the band's ship as manager with her own company, Deck As Ef Productions, on South Torrence Street. The group's grounded nature is reflected in their debut CD's title: Four Green Walls, a reference to the home practice room where they also recorded and mixed the homemade album.

For the past 15 years, the sisters played cello, violin and viola (with brother Rufus on percussion), and toured around the Carolinas with a repertoire of classics. Now they're applying that sonic knowledge and discipline to their recently adopted pop-rock sound, displayed to decent -- if raw -- effect on Walls. The family relies on its classical training as a foundation, yet this new sound -- which has been showcased locally from the public library to the Evening Muse -- was the outgrowth of the aesthetic exploration that college afforded. Until now, the band's prime lyricist and mover Elesha had never heard of such chamber-rock bands as Rasputina or Love, and so she considered pluggin' in a prerequisite to rockin' out. She gained some vital experience through scoring her own coming-of-age indie film Key Lime Pie (www.keylimepiethemovie.com) during her final years studying film and TV in UNC-Chapel Hill's communications department. The college project involved her selecting the music of Chapel Hill rock bands like Ever After and All Day Afternoon to supplement her own arrangements. Then, inspired by her un-produced girl group screenplay, Elesha took up the guitar as a post-graduate hobby and began to entertain dreams of pop stardom. Sister Adrienne's sudden interest in the bass turned the internal "What if?" into a "Why not?"

The resulting eight songs on Four Green Walls are a promising fusion of Southern soul, rock and pop, with the odd nods to gospel, folk, classical and twang thrown in for good measure. Cold is the heart that could not warm to the Barnettes' gospelized harmonies and long overdue revival of country soul on the dark, funky rocker "Wrong." The swinging, bluesy "Lost" (unwittingly) evokes Stax gospel band the Rance Allen Group at its finest. And then there's soul-folk in the vein of West Virginia's Bill Withers -- see Elesha's Black Lily-bound solo acoustic turn on "Halfway." Live at ImaginOn, the band augmented its originals with selections from the Motown catalog and several pop chestnuts. While not quite ready for prime time, the siblings' songs and taste for vintage black pop point towards an accessible direction that could abet the group's desire for MTV rotation. Charlotte having produced neo-soul cultists Anthony Hamilton and Calvin Richardson stands in the Barnettes' favor, since their market niche provides an entree for other local soul acolytes.

Speaking of Hamilton, whose gritty ballad "Lucille" recently wowed country critics, the Barnettes are in dire need of a postmodern producer on the order of 1960s southern soul caretaker Jerry Wexler. He's the guy who wisely took Aretha Franklin to Alabama's Fame studio and brought out her country soul. Elesha Barnette is no choral diva belter a la Re Re, but her Southern-inflected tone and lyrics focused on innervisions suggest she could mature into an heiress of both singer-songwriter Joan Armatrading and Hot'lanta darling Gladys Knight. But for the Barnettes to fulfill their present potential would require a creative man or woman with ears and sensitivity who could help the band grow and renovate the Staples' paradigm on the path to chart and critical success. It would be nice for the Barnettes to work with a futuristic Southern peer like the Neptunes' Pharrell; the electronica flourishes of their disc's "Hold On" indicate they might share a particular generational sensibility. If the uber-producer could apply the twangy, tear-in-yo-Red Bull vibe and Steely Dan fetishism of N.E.R.D.'s debut and Kelis' maligned Wanderland to prod the Barnettes' music to a more experimental level, the results could be astounding. But would Pharrell be astute enough to keep their sound free of the "smack it up, flip it, rub it down" aesthetic?

At the Mid-Atlantic Music Conference, it was apparent that some of the veteran hitmen in attendance scented blood, as they circled around the Barnettes after their performance. However, despite interest from NJ indie label Mallet Records and others, the quartet has remained focused on completing their college studies and working on a game plan which includes attempting to gig beyond the Charlotte area next summer. One conference connection will aid in this: Neel Jadeja's Mecklenburg Decklaration of Independence Productions is a local booking agency that will work with the group. Meanwhile, the Barnettes plan to spend the holiday season playing charity events and laying down a new CD of radio-ready tracks.

During the conference, while performing the could-be country-rock classic "Wrong," Elesha calmly strolled over to sister Kristen's amp and coolly, without missing a beat, flipped a switch when the audience had difficulty hearing the guitar. This effortless blend of sibling support and professionalism is what will give the Barnettes strength on the hard road to stardom, underscoring their unofficial credo that "the family that plays together, stays together."

For more on the Barnettes, including sample tracks, go to www.thebarnettes.com